Troubles in the Shadows

[TommyDAQ]

Ok, I'm not quite newbie... but I haven't really used this software (regularly) in over 10 years, so bear with me (no pun intended Ken - yes, I'mn on a Mac).

 

I've got a very simple scene together in which I need to set up about 10 different camera moves, each that render a 20 second animation very quickly. The scene is made up of about 6 simple models: a ground plane, a long, flat, straight road, a car (the Porche from the CD), a simple scanner that the car passes through, a simple control booth, and a stop sign. All very simple.

 

I've reduced the lighting in the scene to 1 klieg w/ Z-buffered shadows set very high in the scene acting as a sun. I've done this in order to enable z-buffered shadows for render speed, but I can't seem to get the shadows to appear. Currently, I've got all of my ambience settings set to 0 (I think - surfaces, chor, camera). Cast shadows is turned on in the Light object, as well as in its shortcut in the Chor. Camera render settings have shadows turned on, but I've got just about everything else turned off.

 

Is there something else I need to turn on in order to cast shadows? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

TommyDAQ

[robcat2075]

hmmm...

 

can you post a simple version of the PRJ, maybe just the ground and the stop sign, and someone might take a look.

 

Make sure the models are embedded in the PRJ.

 

 

Welcome back to the forum!

[mtpeak2]

Try reducing the cone angle and lowering the width and width softness..

[TommyDAQ]

hmmm...

 

can you post a simple version of the PRJ, maybe just the ground and the stop sign, and someone might take a look.

 

Make sure the models are embedded in the PRJ.

 

 

Welcome back to the forum!

 

 

Project attached... Thanks for the help.

Storyboarding_tool_copy.prj

[robcat2075]

A-ha...

 

The z-buffered Kleig light is shining on such a wide area that its shadow map hasn't the res to do a proper shadow for that scene. One pixel of the shadow map is the size of probably 100 pixels on the render image. The 25% softness is hiding what little shadow is there.

 

Set the "Softness" to 0 and then reduce the cone angle to 10° and you'll start to see something resembling a shadow.

 

For a scene like this where the light needs to stretch to the horizon, I recommend using a "sun" light instead of a Kleig light. Render times might be higher, but the scene will be easier to set up.

 

There are purely z-buffered light solutions for a scene like this but complicated to describe and set up.

[TommyDAQ]

A-ha...

 

The z-buffered Kleig light is shining on such a wide area that its shadow map hasn't the res to do a proper shadow for that scene. One pixel of the shadow map is the size of probably 100 pixels on the render image. The 25% softness is hiding what little shadow is there.

 

Set the "Softness" to 0 and then reduce the cone angle to 10° and you'll start to see something resembling a shadow.

 

For a scene like this where the light needs to stretch to the horizon, I recommend using a "sun" light instead of a Kleig light. Render times might be higher, but the scene will be easier to set up.

 

There are purely z-buffered light solutions for a scene like this but complicated to describe and set up.

 

Thanks for the req. Rendertime is more important than shadows on this one. w/ default lighting (sun, fill and deleted point light), render time was over 24 hrs for a 30 sec animation. As you could see by the name, these are just storyboard comps - not finals at all, so fast render times are a must! In my latest set up, I was getting 1 and 2 seconds/frame! That's what I was looking for! I just was wondering if I could add shadows to it. I may try decreasing the cone angle, plus bumping up the Z-buff map size (I never knew exactly what that map size was for! Now I understand! Thanks!!!)

[robcat2075]

An all z-buffered solution would involve a no-shadow sunlight to light the whole set and then a combination of a positive and negative kleig light shining on each object to add shadow without adding more light. I forget the exact workflow.

 

But if you're just trying to get a sketch out quick, I'd pass on the shadows for now.

[TommyDAQ]

An all z-buffered solution would involve a no-shadow sunlight to light the whole set and then a combination of a positive and negative kleig light shining on each object to add shadow without adding more light. I forget the exact workflow.

 

But if you're just trying to get a sketch out quick, I'd pass on the shadows for now.

 

w/ your suggestions, I kinda got the best of both worlds - 1-2 sec frames, and a shadow! Thx!

(comp attached)

Lesson3_cncpt01_02.mov

[Walter Baker]

Nice job Tommy

[itsjustme]

Great stuff, Tommy!

[TommyDAQ]

You guys are too kind. It's just the car out of the box moving down a flat plane. But thank you. Unfortunately, I'm just putting storyboards together for the Maya guys at work. Oh well...